Best bang for your Buck$ for new growers wanting to find the best cheap lights lol

[freddyyola]

i guess i have a 4x4ish grow area i plan trying to get some going out side and a few inside that way i can get free light from the sun but its risky for me i do wanna have a light or lights that can handle at least 4 good sized plants does a hps really get 1 watt per gram? also if i had lights i can grow year round.. do you guys got a youtube or a grow journal?

[Weed Pharma]

Take a look at the Viparspectra PAR 1200 dimmable, for you size grow. They are a great option at a reasonable price point.

Also, be mindful if you are buying from eBay- It's a good idea to buy from the manufacturer, as others may be selling underperforming LED's the company culled.
I have seen tests where the other seller's LED performed with 1/2 the amout of par- when compared to those bought through the manufacturer.

[freddyyola]

thanks bro will keep that in mind! and will go check that light out now do you know whats the max yield watt per gram this light could produce if all was to go right and i know strains differ but can you ball park it or like an avg... like how hps = 1 gram per watt if optimal

[DrPhoton]

The best value light technology is gas discharge, commercial horticulture companies know this and is the main reason why most commercial indoor facilities are still gas discharge. LED technology is still some time away from being able to regenerate investments over rational timeframes. LED products such as california lightworks, spectrum king, fluence, nextlight, and black dog that provide comparable performance to sodium discharge, require a substantial investment that take years to recover the initial costs.

Evetually LED will superseed all lighting solutions but that time is still a few years or more away. I will myself, knowing lighting technology and plant science. Will continue using gas discharge, until LED has reached a stage of practical and economical value.

[IslandColas]

You could not have said it any better! 👏🏻

[Chefbjy]

DrPhoton knows his shit about lights and many other things.

[freddyyola]

i just went through all your pics and stuff ojh alotta nice stuff going on over there! man in total i got 48 seeds from somewhere and man they were trash pretty much all of em were duds and stunted crap only a few came out good as in i got 4 good plants going and few seedlings and few stunted crap my dumb ass dropped a light dead on to my best plant and snapped it and the one day i didnt check on them till 8 hours apart while im not asleep.. one is looking really dry and crispy on the fan leaves like its been drying up but idk how anyways hopefully i dont lose anymore plants cause barely enough got going i cant believe so many seeds were crap but then again i guess i can since they were all the freebies now that the season is to late for outside i have to wait to get lights and i cant afford more seeds and lights and all the stuff that comes along with a basic grow.. better start saving and getting piee by pieec though! why do you have so many beans ojh is that over the years or do you get free beans from like a sponsor

[IslandColas]

i guess i have a 4x4ish grow area i plan trying to get some going out side and a few inside that way i can get free light from the sun but its risky for me i do wanna have a light or lights that can handle at least 4 good sized plants does a hps really get 1 watt per gram? also if i had lights i can grow year round.. do you guys got a youtube or a grow journal?

1 gram a watt is your goal. As a new grower it will be difficult for you to achieve those yields. Not saying it can’t be done, you’ll just have to do your research and spend LOTS of time with your ladies. Training them and getting your cycle down to a schedule. You should see 1 gram a watt as your goal not as the benchmark.

I run a perpetual harvest and take advantage of year round harvesting using lights and indoor controlled environments. You can do the very same with the proper equipment.

Im full hydro. My system is listed below. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

[freddyyola]

what about led's are the watts from the wall the true wattage you would try to do the math and = 1 gram per watt and yes i understand thats like if all goes right kinda situation.. im really a broke ass closet grower right now hopefully ill have lights by flower time which thats my call pretty much right? i been making my own nutes and stuff since thats the cheapest way and knf forean natural farming shows you how to grow fruits and veggies all natural but with great yields and quality basically shows you how to make the stuff that goes into bottled nutes..

[DankwingDuck]

I have a 600 hps and it doesn’t put off that much heat . You will have to play with it a little bit but my tent stays at 79-82 currently. I do have a vent and inline fan pulling air through it tho .

[IslandColas]

What is your room temperature with that tent? A non air cooled 600w HPS in my climate would run 85-95 tent temperature. Maybe just maybe down to 85 with tent exhaust.

[freddyyola]

@isliandcolas yeah im trying to get that exact set up times 3 from a guy here in my area off craigslist he wants 125 but they go for 110 on amazon your link is for 140 but if you check there are more for less same exact kit and ima talk him down from new 110 to used for 75 each thats 225 for 3 id give him 250 if i have to! but if all fails ima buy em new for 110!

[freddyyola]

this will be more like a trial run or a learners curve i know i wont get everything right the first time and i know ill still be learning as long as im still growing

[freddyyola]

whats better marshydro or vipar or is it preference.. and i will look into cmh and hps... i think i have an hps light hanging from my shed but how do i check? its a big ass light bulb and it takes a few secs to power on and its the blue ish light spectrum its in this wierd hood kinda thing but i dont think thats the ballast.. its a really powerful light though and it was most likely repurposed as to dont look like you ordinary flood light or shed light ill take a pic of it tomorrow if i can use it itll be added to the lights i can use and the more the merrier lol at least easier on my pockets till i can get more quality going which if i can get lights i wont have to wait til spring to grow again

[D.A.A.S.69]

A CMH, is the best, if you ask me.

[freddyyola]

right now im bringing them out in the morning and in before sundown to get the full 18/6 but i been kinda lazy and figure it wont make much difference in the first few weeks from seeds

[freddyyola]

ok ima see if i can find a nice set up for a 1000 watt hps set up and go from there for now...

[IslandColas]

Good choice IMO

[freddyyola]

the way my closet is set up i have a window unit ac right on the otherside of the my closet wall and when i have the door open it it bascally catches the air coming from my window unit im sure with the door open and ac going also i have a box fan in there to blow on the plants and keep a breeze flowing for good circulation of cool air also.. i think i can handle it and my closet is temporary once i get closer to flowering ima get a more permanent place set up.. bigger room to work with.. also does cmh bulbs work in an hps/mh ballast as long as the wattage can match up? like can a 400-1000 watt ballast take an 315 watt cmh you guys are so helpful thanks so much!

[IslandColas]

My gut says no but I’m interested what DrPhoton can say about that. He’s the light guru

[DrPhoton]

Ceramic halide bulbs cannot operate properly on standard gas discharge ballasts. They require a low frequency square wave rather than the typical high frequency square wave. It is best to purchase ballasts made specically for ceramic halide or better yet get one complete kit. Also i would recommend using only the philips elite agro 3100k.

[freddyyola]

yea this is why i dont want to get a cmh specific set up they are expensive and i cant find any used but maybe later i will but if heat will be a problem with my hps ima try to air cool them depending on how cool i can keep my room is what my next lights to compliment the hps's ill have.. im hoping to get these 3 600 watt ipower kits thats plenty to start with and im sure its gonna be hot since my outside temps are super hot and this room will not be ac'd im hoping i can use a room inside instead of the garage... but maybe enough fans and venting i can make something happen..

[freddyyola]

just ordered 2000 worms from uncle jims gonna start farming the hell out f them as well i wanna do fruits and veggies outside so i want alot of worms even though 2000 is over kill its 40$ but 1000 is 33$ might as well double up for 7 bucks and i can spread em out in my gardens outside and make a couple of worm bins... i live on the gulf coast area i wonder if i could maybe even start selling worms as bait tackle.. maybe to a bait shop or something... lol im always looking for ways to make money..

[freddyyola]

also worms are a great way to get nutrients i want into my garden like right now im using korean natural farming methods to make my own nutes by fermenting weeds bamboo aloe and stuff like that for veg and fruits and banana peels for flower/bloom its called fpj and ffj fermented plant juice and fermented fruit juice you ferment them to unlcok/extract the nutes and goods from whatever you are using but the process takes a while since it has to ferment and all that theres also another way to get nutes from plants its called jadam / geren manure basically but now with worms i can feed what i want broken down and fed to my plants i can give it to my worms to break down and itll be in the worm castings which everything that goes ina worm comes out way more better for plants.. bokashi composting is also another method but fpj ffj jadam sst seed sprout teas are the main ways i feed my babies they love seed sprout teas made with corn barley alfalfa and you even cheat using coconut water try get freeze dried powders if you can get the actual coconut but any unpasturized coconut water will work just fine.. the reason sst are so great is because seeds contain everything a plant needs to grow also coconut is the biggest seed on earth and they are full of growth hormones enzymes and much more good stuff! if you are interested youtube/ google "sst" " ffj fpj" " imo" "jadam" knf" in different combos or together i think you will really like it

[DankwingDuck]

If you never found info on your knf try looking online for knf for tomatoes . It’s so much like weed as far and growth and needs it will give you all the info you want

I know this was on another post but since your talking about it here I’ll post it here rather then look for other post .

[freddyyola]

yeah you wont find much info on knf for cannbis because it was come up with to help koreans get optimal farming which were fruitss and veggies mostly so yeah you will find most the info on knf on tomatoes and farming crops ive read and watched most of the stuff on knf i was trying to see if anyone else was using it to grow bud and what they were using and when they used it like ie which plants and fruits they used for fermented extractions and so on..

[freddyyola]

i know some folks make a big deal about where you post something but i could care less bro lol im not gonna get mad that someone tring to help me out.

[Cronk]

All my research for bang for buck leads me back to 315 LEC. you can get a pound with one of these. they cost under $200. THC and terpenes are higher, buds fatter, growth faster, more resin and bigger than anything else in the price range.

I've only grown with this light so my OPINION only comes from reading massive amounts of info and watching uncountable videos. I wanted to set up another small case in the house. Nothing made sense. if 200 buck is too much then I guess I'd grow 1 plant with a cheap LED but would expect it to break down within a short time frame. High quality LEDS are not cheap.

[freddyyola]

right now im looking at 600 watt immable ballast reflector timer 1 mh 1 hps bulb included x's 3 hes asking 350$ ima talk him down to under 250$ and maybe get new bulbs for flowering but this is to start out but i will soon upgrade and then maybe ill get an 315 lec ima check into it now too but 1 lec 315 watt or 3 600 watt kits ready to go for 300 or less of course you should go with the 3 times 600 watt hps/mh iGROW brand setups

[D.A.A.S.69]

Good luck, buying a used ballast, that's still good and not making noises, if I was you ,I'd get an Led and forget about it.
Been plenty of nice plants grown with a Vipar450, for a little over a hundred bucks, that's even got a warranty of some type.
Good Luck with whatever you decide, my 315 cost 300bucks, with a few bulbs thrown in ,and a 3year warranty.
And I really like the dimmable feature, especially for young plants.I could care less about spectrum change ,with young plants.All they want is light, and not too bright a light,

[DankwingDuck]

My hydro store had a used cmh for 200 with the ballast so you just got to look around maybe find one used . Check Facebook market place and craigslist.

[freddyyola]

yeah dankwing i been checking used stuff on ebay and craigslist but i dont think i have any hydro shops around here. im out in the country area so people just farm outside... and growing inside isnt to big around here since you gotta put up money and set up a room/rooms and so on to start, when we could just grow outside. im in Florida and its plenty sunny and good weather so outside grow is alot cheaper for farmers around here... and the folks around here arent so new age type they are really country folk lol

[DrPhoton]

All my research for bang for buck leads me back to 315 LEC. you can get a pound with one of these. they cost under $200. THC and terpenes are higher, buds fatter, growth faster, more resin and bigger than anything else in the price range.

I've only grown with this light so my OPINION only comes from reading massive amounts of info and watching uncountable videos. I wanted to set up another small case in the house. Nothing made sense. if 200 buck is too much then I guess I'd grow 1 plant with a cheap LED but would expect it to break down within a short time frame. High quality LEDS are not cheap.

I would most definitely would recommend CMH for anyone. But they do not perform better than sodium discharge technology. Light spectrum has less impact on plant morphology than people think. Especially with multispectrum light. During flowering, there is practically no morphology response to light quality. CMH also practically emit no UV that many manufactures tried to advertise. This is because of the ceramic arc tube used, filters this naturally emissive product extensively.